That Night
by frodoschick
Summary: What happens when Clopin first meets Quasimodo


Thanks to those who have clicked into this story! Please read it...and then review it!! You can flame if you feel like you need to.

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Dedication: Forestwater, because without her, I never would have thought of this story.

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Disclaimer- I own nothing, not even the idea. Forestwater does.

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_Thanks Forestwater for letting me write this story!! _

_BTW-Clopin's about nineteen or twenty. He's younger, okay?_

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Clopin growled as he ducked down an alley. Whoever had tipped off those damn soldiers that he'd be along the street of Markous was going to be in very big trouble. And now, he couldn't even see Adélaïde, his current sweetheart, with the blue eyes and blonde hair and the--. He cursed again, then ducked a very big man that had suddenly appeared in front of him.

Clopin dashed along a street. It opened up to the courtyard in front of Notre Dame. He felt surprise for a moment, then dashed into the courtyard. He gasped as soldiers spilled out of three other streets. They were really out in force tonight. He blessed Esmeralda for having the foresight for making him wear mostly black (he insisted on his normal purple and magenta too, but he was dressed in mostly black.) He slipped into the shadows of Notre dame. Soldiers ran right past him, shouting and cursing. He smirked.

He waited. Soon it grew quiet. Really quiet. Almost too quiet. He hardly had time to register this fact before he was jumped from behind by at least five soldiers. He was carried to the ground, cursing up a storm. A filthy gag was shoved over his face and mouth. He was tied in a very compromising position.

"Take 'im ta the Palace o' Justice." said one of the bigger soldiers. Clopin kept trying to fight back, but he was well and truly captured. He cast his eyes up to Notre Dame, almost begging for help. That's when he saw a figure come hurtling out of the sky.

It hit the soldiers with a sudden ferocity, making them drop Clopin. He struck several of the soldiers, making contact with their heads that sounded almost like a gong. (A loud one.) He grabbed Clopin, yanking him up (still tied) the sides of Notre Dame. He swung them up onto a balcony. They disappeared inside of Notre Dame.

"Are you alright?" inquired his rescuer, removing the gag. Clopin got a good look at him. The hunchback avoided Clopin's stare as he untied him. "You can...leave now." said the hunchback, turning his face away from Clopin and walking down the hallway. "The back exit is down those stairs to the left." He turned and started going up stairs.

Clopin's innate curiosity overwhelmed his common-sense (that happens alot) and followed the hunchback up the stairs of Notre Dame. He followed completely silently, arguing over the ethics of this with Puppet who had suddenly appeared on his hand and started in on him about following him. Obviously he wanted his privacy and all that. Clopin won the argument (he always did) and hid behind the door that the boy had disappeared though.

"Well, he's safe now." said the hunchback. Honestly, the boy couldn't be more than seventeen years old and already talking to himself. "Now will you try to fly?" That really did not make sense, so Clopin looked about and saw that the boy was talking to a pigeon chick, nestling in the mouth of a Notre Dame gargoyle. "You're not ready? That's fine."

The boy walked back to a table in the bell-loft. Obviously he lived here. Could it be that the rumors were true? He knew that the bells didn't ring by themselves but...that meant that Frollo was a heck of a lot worse than he let on. Clopin looked a bit closer, watching the boy arrange figures in the town-square. The boy had an entire replica of Notre Dame and the surrounding buildings. He even had a box at the base of his feet that held many, many more figurines.

Clopin suddenly heard a door slam. The boy jumped and quickly set about putting away the Gypsy figures and setting out two plates and cups. Obviously he was having a visitor. Maybe he shouldn't be here...

"Quasimodo."

_Damn._

"M-master." Clopin recognized that really cold voice. That was the Judge Claude Frollo. Clopin started inching his way along the gables, trying to get to the stairwell that he had come up without discovery. His foot kicked something on accident, sending it down the steep roofs of Notre Dame.

"What was that?" demanded Frollo, his footsteps coming closer and closer.

"It was probably just some shingles coming loose, sir." said Quasimodo. Frollo's footsteps stopped.

"Perhaps you are right," he started. Clopin started to sigh in relief. "But maybe it isn't. Guess who happened to report to me earlier?" The pugnant silence was enough for several things to be assumed in. "Apparently, the Gypsy King got away with the help of a stranger."

Clopin gulped and starting inching faster.

"Es-Escaped, Master?" inquired Quasimodo.

"Don't play the fool!" shouted Frollo.

"_That's what she said._" said Puppet, suddenly popping up again.

"Shhh!" said Clopin, shoving Puppet's head down.

"_That's what she said!_" insisted Puppet. Clopin groaned and made a mad dash to the stairwell, disappearing down it the second Frollo's head slunk around the doorframe. He also looked in the stairwell, but Clopin was long gone.

He made sure that no soldiers were in the streets, Puppet looking all the ways that he couldn't. He dashed down several streets and quickly made his way back to the Court of Miracles. He collapsed in his wagon, utterly exhasted from the night's events.

"CLOPIN! GET YER SCRAWNY BUTT OUT HERE NOW!!" shouted his mother from outside the wagon.

"_That's what she said!_" piped up Puppet. Clopin groaned.

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Random story. Please be kind.


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